Venezuela - Political parties

Before the formation of the existing political parties, political
conflict in Venezuela was confined to the traditionally Latin American
centralist-federalist debate, with few actual differences in
governments. Since the late 1950s, however, a stable party system
evolved. Each political group had its own ballot with its own
distinctive color and symbol, so that illiteracy was not a barrier to
political participation. Constitutional provisions barring the military
from political involvement further ensured the stability of the party
system and the continuity of elected civilian leadership. But
Chávez came into office promising to dismantle the party system
that dominated Venezuelan politics for more than four decades. While his
left-of-center coalition remained firmly in control in 1999 and early
2000, it was not known how the new constitution and political reforms
would affect other parties in the long run. All parties were allowed to
compete for national, regional, and municipal posts in the proposed May
2000 elections.

Since 1958, the dominant force in Venezuelan politics was the Democratic
Action Party (Acción Democrática—AD). It grew out
of the socialist movement, which unified under the National Democratic
Party (PDN). That party splintered, with a Moscow-oriented group forming
the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) and the nationalist and
democratic-socialist faction creating the AD.

The left has been fragmented throughout modern Venezuelan politics.
After the split between AD and the PCV, the advent of Fidel Castro in
Cuba caused further fragmentation. A group of AD members left the party
to form the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (Movimiento de Izquierda
Revolucionaria—MIR). The Armed Liberation Forces (Fuerzas Armadas
de Liberación Nacional—FALN) took to the field and
attempted a guerrilla uprising. The PCV remained loyal to Moscow and at
times battled the FALN openly. All of these movements were denounced by
the AD, and in 1962 the MIR and PCV were barred from political activity.
The FALN, which never bothered with legal political action, was subdued,
and with it hopes of a Castroite takeover died. The most recent
development from the left has been the emergence of the Movement for
Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo—MAS), which took 10% of the
vote for the Chamber of Deputies in 1988. MAS is an attempt to
rejuvenate the left by a faction of the old PCV.

The right has been characterized by small parties without much chance of
electoral success alone. Some have been able to form coalitions with
larger parties to achieve some success within the system. One such
party, the Democratic Republican Union (Unión Republicana
Democrática—URD), has been a governing partner with the AD
during the Leoni government (1963–68). The Committee for Free
Elections (Comité de Organización Política
Electoral Independiente—COPEI), also known as the Social
Christian Party (Partido Social-Cristiano), is a Christian Democratic
party, with the center-right implications of that movement. It has
succeeded as an opposition party to the AD, occasionally taking
advantage of splits in the AD's governing coalition or within the
AD itself.

In 1947, the AD won the first free elections ever held in Venezuela. The
PCV also fielded a candidate, as did COPEI. These three parties were
outlawed during the dictatorship of Pérez Jiménez, and
carried on their activities clandestinely. In December 1958, after
Pérez Jiménez had been driven from power, free elections
were held. The presidential victor, Rómulo Betancourt, formed a
coalition government of the AD, COPEI, and URD.

The AD and COPEI reached several agreements over the years to cooperate
with each other and to exclude the more leftist parties from the
Venezuelan system. After the COPEI victory in 1968, Venezuela became a
more competitive two-party system, with AD and COPEI competing for
power. Agreements between AD and COPEI in 1970 and 1973 called for
cooperation in appointive posts, so the competition has been controlled.
AD and COPEI have dominated the system since, although the 1994 election
of Caldera as the candidate of a four-party coalition, the National
Convergence (Convergencia), suggested a movement away from the two-party
arrangement.

Since 1998, Chávez, who came to power backed by the leftist
Patriotic Pole, a coalition of parties that includes the Communist Party
of Venezuela, has dramatically changed the power structure in the
country. Chávez's Fifth Republic Movement is the largest
party in Venezuela but it is a highly personalist party and few expect
it to survive beyond Chávez's political career. The two
traditional parties, AD and COPEI, have not recovered from the 1998
election and despite having a few seats in parliament, have been
unsuccessful in mounting an organized democratic opposition against
Chávez. For all practical matters, the only party that exists in
Venezuela as of mid 2003 is Chávez's Fifth Republic with
the rest of the political spectrum being highly fractionalized.